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CERAD practice effects and attrition bias in a dementia prevention trial

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 April 2013

Melissa Mathews ,
Erin Abner ,
Allison Caban-Holt ,
Richard Kryscio  and
Frederick Schmitt
Melissa Mathews
Affiliation:
Sanders-Brown Center on Aging, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, USA
Erin Abner
Affiliation:
Sanders-Brown Center on Aging, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, USA Department of Statistics and Biostatistics, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, USA
Allison Caban-Holt
Affiliation:
Sanders-Brown Center on Aging, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, USA Department of Behavioral Science, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, USA
Richard Kryscio
Affiliation:
Sanders-Brown Center on Aging, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, USA Department of Statistics and Biostatistics, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, USA
Frederick Schmitt*
Affiliation:
Sanders-Brown Center on Aging, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, USA Department of Behavioral Science, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, USA Department of Neurology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, USA
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: Frederick Schmitt, PhD, 303 Sanders-Brown Center on Aging, University of Kentucky, 800 S. Limestone Street, Lexington, KY 40536-023, USA. Phone: +1-859-218-5051; Fax: +1-859-323-1772. Email: [email protected].
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Abstract

Background: The Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease (CERAD) set of tests is frequently used for tracking cognition longitudinally in both clinical and research settings. Repeated cognitive assessments are an important component in measuring such changes; however, practice effects and attrition bias may obscure significant clinical change over time. The current study sought to examine the presence and magnitude of practice effects and the role of attrition bias in a sample of cognitively normal older men enrolled in a prevention trial.

Method: Participants were grouped according to whether they completed five years of follow-up (n = 182) or less (n = 126). Practice effects were examined in these participants as a whole (n = 308) and by group.

Results: Findings indicate that moderate practice effects exist in both groups on the CERAD T-score and that attrition bias likely does not play a contributing role in improved scores over time.

Conclusion: The current study provides additional evidence and support for previous findings that repeated cognitive assessment results in rising test scores in longitudinally collected data and demonstrates that these findings are unlikely to be due to attrition.

Keywords

practice effectsCERADattrition biasaging
Type
Research Article
Information
International Psychogeriatrics , Volume 25 , Issue 7 , July 2013 , pp. 1115 - 1123
Copyright
Copyright © International Psychogeriatric Association 2013 

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